A number of parasitic arthropods infest poultry animals and damage and annoy the animals and therefore present significant challenges in view of economic loss, animal welfare issues and epidemiological concerns for disease transmission.
Poultry mites, such as Dermanyssus gallinae (poultry red mite), Ornithonyssus sylviarum (northern fowl mite), and Ornithonyssus bursa (tropical fowl mite) are important parasite problems, especially in production premises for layers.
Conventional methods of parasitic arthropod control, and especially poultry mite control, include chemicals that are applied as sprays, coarse or solid stream, mist, fog, dusts and/or as wash solutions to empty or populated animal premises and their environment. Other control measures include dusting or spraying the infested poultry animals with powdered or liquid synthetic organic chemicals formulations or adding the powdered synthetic organic chemicals to the litter or dust bath. Examples of synthetic organic chemical groups that have been used in such chemical treatment include pyrethroids, organophosphates, carbamates, spinosad, and the like.
Recently chemical treatments are being increasingly scrutinized due to widespread resistance development, as well as environmental and occupational safety concerns.
Alternatively, amorphous silica is used as an inert dust that kills parasitic arthropods by desiccation. The silica powder treatment can be done in the presence of the poultry animals, but requires a very strong dosage and one is obliged to saturate the silica powder throughout the poultry houses. Moreover, silica powder is known to cause a number of lung diseases both in birds and in human.
An additional problem is that some parasitic arthropods, such as poultry mites, are known to inhabit in cracks and crevices of the poultry houses and hence are difficult to kill using known chemical treatments and silica powder treatment on premises.
Alternative methods including insect attractants/repellents, predatory mites and vaccines have been described, but so far offer no consistent or practical solutions for widespread implementation in poultry operations.
Mite problems often reoccur in affected poultry premises after treatment. Hence, because of the limited efficacy frequent re-treatment is required. Repeated treatments can be stressful for the poultry animals and may especially result in egg production losses in laying hens and breeders.
Therefore, none of these methods satisfies the needs of the poultry producer.
Thus, there is a need in this art to find a better solution to the problem of controlling parasitic arthropods and especially poultry mites in the poultry industry, while not harming animals or humans.